Year 5 NAPLAN swaps screens for pen and paper as ministers pull the plug

Year 5 students will sit NAPLAN with pen and paper again from 2028, after education ministers agreed to dump online testing in primary schools. The decision lands amid a growing pushback against classroom technology and follows a slide in academic results that has parents and teachers demanding change.

Year 5 now joins Year 3 in taking the test by hand. Whether Years 7 and 9 follow them offline is still up in the air — no decision has been made on the older cohorts. NSW Education Minister Prue Car is already lobbying for those year levels to go back to handwriting too.

The numbers behind the U-turn are stark. Australia posted its weakest result yet in the most recent Programme for International Student Assessment, which found Australian students logging an average of 2.6 hours a day on digital devices against an OECD average of 1.7 hours. NAPLAN results show roughly a third of Australian students missing literacy and numeracy benchmarks.

The Heads Up Alliance, a swelling network of parents campaigning against devices, called the Year 5 change a starting point rather than a win. Ahead of Monday's ministers' meeting, the group wrote to every minister, pointing to a petition signed by tens of thousands of parents and teachers that calls for handwriting to be restored as core education policy. In a statement, the alliance told supporters to stay tuned, saying there is a lot more to achieve.

Car framed the shift as a response to what schools are seeing. She said the evidence from classrooms points to the ongoing value of handwriting for student development and for engaging a different way of learning, adding that ministers are listening to teachers and families who want a sensible, balanced approach to technology in schools.

Victoria has been out in front on cutting device use, banning mobile phones in public school classrooms. From the start of the 2027 school year, students at all government, Catholic and independent schools will also have to keep personal devices — smart glasses, phones and smartwatches included — switched off and stored during school hours.